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The Citizen, 2017-02-02, Page 5THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2017. PAGE 5. Other Views When did cats take over the world? ? /' not sure if you noticed but last week Nazem Kadri's cat became as famous (or more so) for a couple of days, as her owner, a star centre with the Toronto Maple Leafs who was raised in London. Kadri's cat Jazzi's exploits are broadcast on its own Instagram account, and since cats have more fans than the Maple Leafs, Jazzi may have been more famous than her owner, for a few days at least. Jazzi's fame will undoubtedly be fleeting because some other cat or dog is sure to muscle her out as the latest social media sensation a day or so later. Every day there's a short video of some pet doing something cute that not only gets passed around the internet but even gets picked up by regular television stations looking for something to add a little levity to newscasts full of murders, avalanches and Donald Trump's outrages. The more views a pet video has received online, the more likely you'll see it on television. Like the Kardashian family, dogs and cats are becoming famous for being famous. Andy Warhol's prediction that in future everyone would be famous for 15 minutes has now been extended to your cat, which seems entirely fitting because today pets seem to have been elevated to a higher place in North American society than people. In fact it often seems that the real purpose of humans is to give their dogs and cats lives of leisure and pleasure. I don't have any pets anymore. I haven't the Keith Roulston From the cluttered desk time or the money to support them in the manner cats and dogs are apparently entitled to these days. I'm hopelessly old- fashioned. When I grew up on the farm more years ago than I like to admit, dogs and cats were kept, at least in part, for practical reasons. Cats in the house and barn kept down the mice and rats that were an inevitable part of rural life. If you had an especially smart and well-trained dog, he might help herd the cattle from the pasture to the barn at milking time. We never had a dog that clever (most of ours were minimally -trained mutts) but the family dog was still useful for scaring off foxes and other predators from the chickens. Of course back then we kids were expected to be useful around the farm too. We were to weed the garden, feed smaller livestock, help with housework and drive tractors as soon as we were old enough. Today, like animals, kids have been elevated in modern society. Now the purpose of parents seems to be to cater to the every whim of their children without ever expecting anything in return. Children in families where they're actually assigned chores consider calling in child welfare authorities. But kids are on a lower rung of society than pets because the kids grow up and eventually have to make their own way in the world. Pets can expect to be catered to forever. And strangely, while we're bringing in legislation to allow people to avoid prolonged, painful deaths, for a considerable number of pet owners the idea of their pet's life ending is so unthinkable that they'll spend a small fortune on veterinarians' bills for operations and other procedures to prolong its life, even if it sometimes means additional suffering for the animal while it recuperates. The one obligation our pets seem to have these days is to entertain us. Now even in the practical old days on the farm we were often amused by our pets but with the advent of the cell phone video cameras, the internet and social media, the cute things your animals do can be shared with the world. Pet owners can get their own 15 minutes of fame by broadcasting the funny antics of their animals. In fact I'm expecting any day now that PETA or some other animal rights group will recognize that this is really exploitation of animals by humans and call for a halt to this abuse. At the very least I can see them deciding that the animals should be properly compensated — say with a more expensive brand of pet food. What an age of miracles we live in For years I have been saying to my wife, as a matter of fact, I've been saying it to her since before she became my wife, that there needs to be some better way of making grocery lists than pen and paper. It's just so danged final. You finish writing it out and you run out the door and, like that, you're in a grocery store where you may not have cell service, or you may have forgotten your phone at home so when your partner inevitably discovers you're out of something else that's needed for dinner, you end up having to run out again. In case you're not following me here, I'll paint a scene for you. It's a Saturday, shortly after lunch. Ashleigh and Mary Jane and I are sitting in the living room and, knowing we have just about enough time to thaw whatever meat will be necessary, I ask Ashleigh what she would like for dinner. She smiles and says spaghetti and meat sauce would be wonderful and I agree. I mean, who doesn't like spaghetti? I get the meat out and discover, lo and behold, that we're out of tomato sauce. Not a big deal. I can run to the local grocery store and pick up a few cans. Before I leave, however, Ashleigh and I scour the kitchen to see what breadmaking ingredients we need, we check our stock of sugar and sweetener for our respective coffees, look to see how much milk and cream we have and make sure we have ice cream in the freezer (Trust me, the best advice I can give for keeping a happy wife is to find out what her favourite dessert is and keep it stocked). After scouring the kitchen, pantry and freezer to make sure we've got what we need for the next few days, I set out to the grocery store, list in hand. From there on out, however, anything that Ashleigh discovers may or may not make it on the list. Shortly after I leave the house, Ashleigh Denny Scott Denny's Den discovers that we are out of parmesan cheese. She tries to call me, but in the hustle and bustle of the supermarket, which includes running into people and chatting, I miss the call. I come home and have to turn around and go back out. Let me give you another scenario — Mary Jane's toys all sing and dance and light up. She's at the age where that will keep her enthralled (and therefore happy, quiet and out of trouble) for minutes on end. Those toys, however, all require batteries and most of them don't use the nice stash of rechargeable AA batteries. They all use Cs or Ds. Suffice to say, running out of the batteries to make her toy aquarium run, which is integral to her sleep routine, isn't good. If bed time rolls around and the aquarium's normally dulcet tones turn nightmarish as the batteries give up the ghost, it's a bad thing. It falls to me to scavenge through the house, checking every storage closet, nook, cranny and junk drawer hoping to cobble together enough batteries to get the thing running again. Fortunately, I find some batteries hidden away (what for, I don't know, I'm pretty sure kids' toys are the only things that use such monstrous batteries) and we get the toy going so Mary Jane can go to sleep. At that point, I should put batteries on the shopping list, but who knows when I'm going to be shopping? I could work sun -up to sun -down the next day. Regardless, I put batteries on the list on the fridge and sure enough, the next time I go shopping, I don't come home first, I go straight from work with a texted list from my wife. Guess what wasn't on it? So, like I said, there has to be a better way of handling the grocery list. Fortunately for me, I recently found out I'm right, thanks to the talents of Google. There is a program called `Google Keep' which allows people to do all sorts of great things with their phones. Lists can be made, ideas can be quickly jotted down and it's all kept in one place. The most amazing thing about the program, however, is how you can share that information with other people. I have a list called "Groceries," and, on it are "C Batteries, AA batteries, Mayonnaise and Tax Software." I didn't put all those things on the list however — Ashleigh, at my request, put tax software on the list this morning because when it occurred to me that we would soon need it, I figured better put it on there now. We share the list so when one of us adds something, even if we're in the middle of the grocery store, the other one can see it. The person at home can also watch as items are checked off the list. The best part about it — unlike those reusable bags you keep forgetting in the car every time you go shopping — is the list reminds you not only what you need to pick up, but reminds you when you need to pick it up. I've got my list set on a GPS -based alert. My phone knows when I get to a local grocery store or supply store and alerts me to the fact that there are things I need to pick up. Some people might be a bit freaked out by the fact that their phone knows where they are, but I say, as long as I'm being tracked by something that's a necessity for my job, I might as well make use of it. If you share a home with anyone, get the software, it will save everyone repeat trips. Shawn Loughlin ALIMIllik Shawn's Sense The bigger, the better? This is not the first time I have written about this, nor do I feel it will be the last. I know that because no matter how many times local politicians suggest getting bigger and it's voted down — it always reappears in a slightly different form. Last month it was Ashfield-Colborne- Wawanosh Reeve Ben Van Diepenbeek who suggested that Huron County councillors stop dancing around the subject of a single -tier government — and along with it the sharing of numerous services throughout the county — and just correctly identify the nature of the discussion they were having, rather than implying it without saying it. If we were talking about American politics here, we might use the term "dog whistle politics" but I don't think that's what's going on here. Councillors aren't attempting to hide anything here or say one thing by saying another. Heck, I don't even think Van Diepenbeek is necessarily an advocate for single -tier government, I think he was just the one who stood up and urged councillors to be clear with one another and with ratepayers about the nature of the conversation. Every time the idea of a single -tier government comes up, local councillors always find positives. If the county were to buy all of its public works trucks at the same time, for example, ratepayers everywhere would all save money. Or, if firefighting or recreation were services administered by the county, there would be savings due to bulk purchasing and efficiencies created by fewer employees doing more jobs. As I have said before (and will no doubt say again), I have no idea how councillors in Huron County can have this mindset when they are so often the victims of government and regulations that have grown out of control. One can't go to a coffee shop or speak to someone on the street for more than five minutes without hearing lament regarding the upper-level institutions and how out of touch they are with everyday people like those of us who live and work in Huron County. We have Premier Kathleen Wynne, who now has the lowest -ever approval rating for a sitting premier. She has handed down hydro costs that ask everyday people like you and me to pay for the mistakes of her government. Controversial decisions are always made at either the provincial or federal levels that make life in Huron County more difficult. Whether it's the Provincial Policy Statement governing planning matters or the shifting funding model for healthcare, the big boys are making it tougher and tougher for us. So... who do we turn to? We only have each other. If you live and work in Huron County, I can rely on you to know what life is like for me, and vice versa. Under a single -tier system, all of that goes away. I would challenge locals to name members of the Huron County Public Works Department or the Planning Department. Decisions made by these people affect us, but they are often made at an arm's length. You likely don't stand a chance of running into one of these people at the local arena or at the local restaurant on a Thursday night. Why then would an entire population that knows what it's like to be disenfranchised by the upper tiers of government that constantly focus on Toronto and other urban centres seek to create a system like that for themselves? Under a single -tier system, you can kiss all the jobs, power and decision-making abilities goodbye. They'll all be moving to Goderich and you'll never seen them again.